Book Review: You Are Your Own Gym

“I don’t have time to go to the Gym.”

“Gym memberships cost too much”

“Too many Arnold-wannabes around you make it a hassle”

If these are some of the excuses you’ve used in the past to bail on working out, then we’ve got the book for you. “You Are Your Own Gym, The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises” by Mark Lauren with Joshua Clark is exactly what you need to start and continue your own strength-training regime.

Mark builds a compelling argument for reading his book and taking his training “out for a spin”. His years of training special ops forces in the US have been distilled into a book for you and me. We may not be the guys to take out the next Osama Bin Laden (unless you see him in the Walmart parking lot crossing in front of your Subaru), but we’re in the fight of our life to keep and even improve our health. This book can be a key tool in your arsenal and is worth the read.

The book’s initial chapters cover Mark’s background and outline the rationale and benefits of strength-training and in particular, the use of bodyweight exercises. Your body is with you everywhere and most of his exercises can be done almost anywhere – a hotel room, your basement, your office boardroom assuming the video conferencing software is off. He does take a run at cardio training in a chapter on “Why Strength Training?” made most obvious by the sub-heading “(or Why Cardio is a Waste of Your Time)”. He argues that if you are either trying to lose fat or gain muscle, then cardio training is both inefficient and ineffective. He may be right and the chapter lays out why… but I believe cardio does have a role in maintaining overall health, especially in our later years. Something we’ll be digging into in future posts.

The next few chapters touch on his views regarding nutrition, motivation and intensity. All short, but good and relevant reads that set you up for the meat of the book.

This is where your investment in the book bears fruit. Upon first glance some of the exercises seem exceedingly simple and others completely impossible. However, with the use of leverage, most of the exercises can be made easier or harder depending upon what you need. As such, there is an almost unlimited supply of variations allowing the most abject rookie through to the fittest human in the world to find exercises to challenge them and help them grow.

And for those of us who may not have the wherewithal or desire to “construct our own” exercise regimes, Mark offers up “Basic”, “1^st Class”, “Master Class” and “Chief Class” programs to follow. Utilizing Ladders, Interval Sets, Supersets, Stappers and Tabatas (all explained in the book) these 10 week programs give you the structure and guidance to enable you to dramatically improve your strength and conditioning.

So for the price of 5 or 10 Starbucks coffees and some self-discipline, you can learn how to use your own bodyweight to build a stronger, faster, better you. I have been following his programs since buying his book back in 2010 and highly recommend you give it a try. You won’t regret it

N.B. I have known Mike for over 25 years and I have seen first hand the changes in his physique and the increase in his muscle mass due to him following this program. With his work and family life and other demands, going to the gym was simply not an option for Mike. “You Are Your Own Gym” has markedly and very measurably improved his life – and let’s just say that his partly Scottish wife appoves not only of the results and the cost savings of not having any memberships, but also of not having to wonder if her husband has wandered off to a bath house. – Curt